The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the postseason tournament, but Mike Tomlin wants to get back on track before the dance begins.
The Steelers have lost three straight games, all by 14-plus points -- the first time Pittsburgh has lost three consecutive tilts by 14-plus points since Weeks 5-7, 1998. In Week 18, they face a Cincinnati Bengals squad trying to scratch their way into the postseason.
"Certainly, they're a motivated group trying to play their way into this tournament, but certainly we're a motivated group to be quite honest with you," coach Mike Tomlin said Monday, . "We got to get the stench of the last few performances off of us, and there's no better way to do that than a home divisional win versus a formidable group going into the tournament, and so that's our mentality as we stand here today."
The Steelers have crumbled on both sides of the ball. The defense has allowed 25-plus points in three consecutive games for the first time since Weeks 2-4, 2018. The offense scored a season-low 10 points against the Chris Jones-less Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day and hasn't scored more than 17 points in any of the past three games.
"We know that we have to just win this game to get some momentum going into the playoffs," pass rusher Alex Highsmith said. "Ultimately that's all we can do at this point. We just got to control [what] we control and that's winning games.
"We can't get engulfed by [losing]. We just got to rally around each other in this locker room and know the guys that we have in this locker room and know the talent that we have."
The Steelers take on the desperate Bengals on Saturday night. Before kickoff, Tomlin's crew could know their fate in the AFC North (a Ravens victory earlier in the afternoon could clinch the division for Baltimore). The Steelers could sew up the No. 5 seed with a win over Cincinnati or fall to the No. 6 spot with a loss and a Chargers win on Sunday.
